1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to processor-based circuit interrupting devices. In particular, the present disclosure relates to microcontroller-based circuit interrupting devices having noise protection and/or self-test functions.
2. Description of Related Art
Many electrical wiring devices have a line side, which is connectable to an electrical power supply, and a load side, which is connectable to one or more loads and at least one conductive path between the line and load sides. Electrical connections to wires supplying electrical power or wires conducting electricity to the one or more loads are at line side and load side connections. Presently available ground fault circuit interrupting (GFCI) devices, such as the device described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,894, use an electrically activated trip mechanism to mechanically break an electrical connection between the line side and the load side. Such devices are resettable after they are tripped by, for example, the detection of a ground fault. In the device discussed in the '894 patent, the trip mechanism used to cause the mechanical breaking of the circuit (i.e., the conductive path between the line and load sides) includes a solenoid (or trip coil). A test button is used to test the trip mechanism and circuitry used to sense faults, and a reset button is used to reset the electrical connection between line and load sides.
However, instances may arise where an abnormal condition, caused by for example a lightning strike, occurs which may result not only in a surge of electricity at the device and a tripping of the device but also a disabling of the trip mechanism used to cause the mechanical breaking of the circuit. Further, an open neutral condition, which is defined in Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Standard PAG 943A, may exist with the electrical wires supplying electrical power to such GFCI devices. Commonly owned application Ser. No. 09/138,955 filed Aug. 24, 1998 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,967), which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a family of resettable circuit interrupting devices capable of locking out the reset portion of the device if the circuit interrupting portion is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists.
Some of the circuit interrupting devices described above have a user accessible load side connection in addition to the line and load side connections. The user accessible load side connection includes one or more connection points where a user can externally connect to electrical power supplied from the line side. The load side connection and user accessible load side connection are typically electrically connected together. An example of such a circuit interrupting device is a GFCI receptacle, where the line and load side connections are binding screws and the user accessible load side connection is the plug connection to an internal receptacle. As noted, such devices are connected to external wiring so that line wires are connected to the line side connection and load side wires are connected to the load side connection. However, instances may occur where the circuit interrupting device is improperly connected to the external wires so that the load wires are connected to the line side connection and the line wires are connected to the load connection. This is known as reverse wiring. In the event the circuit interrupting device is reverse wired, fault protection to the user accessible load connection may be eliminated, even if fault protection to the load side connection remains.
Commonly owned application Ser. No. 13/192,860 filed Jul. 28, 2011 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,130,480), which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a family of resettable circuit interrupting devices capable of locking out the reset portion of the device if the circuit interrupting portion is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists, and also capable of providing reverse wiring protection.
Other circuit interrupting devices include arc fault circuit interrupting devices (AFCI's), immersion detection circuit interrupting devices (IDCI's), appliance leakage circuit interrupting devices (ALCI's), equipment leakage circuit interrupting devices (ELCI's), circuit breakers, contactors, latching relays and solenoid mechanisms.